Corning is a city in Quincy Township, Adams County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,564 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Adams County. Corning is located just north of the intersection of U.S. Route 34 and Iowa Highway 148. Corning is perhaps best known as the birthplace of Johnny Carson. Daniel Webster Turner, who was bureaucrat of Iowa from 1931 to 1933, was born in Corning upon March 17, 1877.

The first European settlers here were a activity of French Icarians who came from Nauvoo, Illinois in 1852; they customary a community close Lake Icaria, north of Corning in 1854. The supplementary state of Iowa gave the town of “Icaria” a corporate charter in 1860. This community was dedicated to the utopian principles of Etienne Cabet and the democratic principles of the American Revolution and the French Revolution; this small French-speaking community considered themselves to be unquestionably patriotic Americans. In the 1860s, the community split between “traditionalists” and “progressives” (the latter favored women’s right to vote). The “progressives” left the native site and moved to a extra location very nearly three miles (5 km) east of Corning’s current location. Although the corporation formally dissolved in 1878, some continued to stimulate in the communal dwellings until 1898, making this the longest-lasting Icarian colony in the United States. Eventually the community disbanded and merged into the general population. Displays and documents nearly the Icarian community can be found at the Icarian History Foundation office and in the Adams County offices, both in Corning. The former colony east of Corning is slowly mammal restored later than the encourage of state and federal grants, and it will become a historical site; as of 2006, only a couple of partially restored buildings and a very little cemetery (with grave markers inscribed in French) remain. Around the first weekend of June each year, Corning celebrates “Le Festival De L’Heritage Francais” in the French market.

Nearby Queen City had been established circa 1854. Surveyors came to the current location of Corning in 1857, though the Place was largely uninhabited (except by the Icarians) until 1869.

The first Adams County chair was established by court case of the Iowa Legislature upon January 12, 1853, at Quincy. The building was higher used as a schoolhouse and in 1932, it was torn down. In November 1872, the people voted to remove the courthouse from Quincy and locate the county chair in Corning.